Love suffers long

                                                       

I know of no better description of love than what Paul wrote in I Cor. 13 starting in the 4^th verse (NKJV).  

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

It is likely you have read or heard these scriptures:  If no where else, maybe at a wedding.   Often these words inflict well deserved guilt on us as we realize how far we fall short.   But that is for a later Blog.   Today, I want you to consider these words in relation to God and His love for us.   Jesus told Philip that if you’ve seen Him, you’ve seen the father (John 14:9) so when we look at Jesus and the love He showed, we are seeing how God loves.

Love suffers long:  Jesus,  the creator of all things,  became as one of us.   In his time here he suffered humiliation, pain, rejection, and more even before going to the cross.   On the cross he carried the weight of our sins.   To see how he suffered long over Jerusalem, read Luke 13:34 .    

Also see my friend, Rick Thomson's blog http://inthefootstepsoftychicus.blogspot.com/2011/04/reflections-on-love-of-god.html to see how God's love is revealed in the Old Testament.

To be continued….